Mr Stacky Blog

Protecting Your Mr. Stacky in Bad Weather

If you’re experiencing inclement weather in your area, you may be concerned about what you are growing in your Mr. Stacky. Hail, frost, wind, repeat rains and heat can destroy delicate plants.

Demonstration photo of how to cover your Mr. Stacky with a sheet. More than one rock will be needed to hold the sheet in place.

Demonstration photo of a Mr. Stacky covered with a sheet. (More than one rock is suggested for holding the sheet in place.) The best way to protect your pots is to move them, if they are light enough. Placing your pots indoors temporarily or under an overhang can give a bit of protection. However, some of your plantings may be too heavy to move. In this case, protecting them takes a bit of homespun engineering.

If frost or hail, is a worry, old sheets can be lightly placed over the plants in the evening before you go to bed and removed in the morning. Tie ropes around the planters or use rocks to hold the sheets in place. While this may not protect your plants 100%, it may give you a slight advantage in keeping them alive. However, it is possible that the weight of the sheet may break the tops or branches of plants. Also, be sure not to leave the sheets on top of your plants too long, as they need sunshine to stay happy.

When wind is concern, you might try carefully scooting your planter closer to a house wall or an area that is less breezy. A mover’s trick that might help move something heavy is to place a moving blanket on the ground and push the heavy object onto as much of the blanket as possible. Then, you drag the blanket (with the object resting on it) carefully to your destination.

Too much water on a consistent basis can lead to plant disease. If repeat rains are a problem, make sure your pot is draining properly. If for some reason your pot holds water and the rain has stopped. you can gently tilt the pot to remove some of the water. If rains continue to be an issue, moving the pot under a patio or against the wall of the house may decrease the amount of water intake.

It only takes a small amount of extreme heat to fry delicate plants. During dry heat spells, try watering plants in the morning or temporarily moving them to the shade. When it is really hot, I will actually drench potted plants to give them protection. However, you have to watch them to be sure you’re not drowning your pots. It’s also not a 100% solution, if the weather and the plant are not designed for one another.

Be sure to post your gardening questions on our Facebook page and I’ll do my best to help you on your growing journey.